Executive Chef/Owner-Jeffrey Hansell and his wife, general manager Amy Hansell opened Ox Lot 9 over the summer in Covington. (Photo by Kathleen Flynn, NOLA.com l The Times-Picayune)

Executive Chef/Owner-Jeffrey Hansell and his wife, general manager Amy Hansell opened Ox Lot 9 over the summer in Covington. (Photo by Kathleen Flynn, NOLA.com l The Times-Picayune)

Executive Chef/Owner-Jeffrey Hansell and his wife, general manager Amy Hansell opened Ox Lot 9 over the summer in Covington. (Photo by Kathleen Flynn, NOLA.com l The Times-Picayune)

Executive Chef/Owner-Jeffrey Hansell, right, speaks with an employee at his restaurant Ox Lot 9 in Covington. Hansell and his wife, general manager Amy Hansell opened Ox Lot 9 over the summer in Covington. (Photo by Kathleen Flynn, NOLA.com l The Times-Picayune)

Executive Chef/Owner-Jeffrey Hansell and his wife, general manager Amy Hansell opened Ox Lot 9 over the summer in Covington. (Photo by Kathleen Flynn, NOLA.com l The Times-Picayune)

Executive Chef/Owner-Jeffrey Hansell and his wife, general manager Amy Hansell opened Ox Lot 9 over the summer in Covington. (Photo by Kathleen Flynn, NOLA.com l The Times-Picayune)

Executive Chef/Owner-Jeffrey Hansell, cooks at his restaurant Ox Lot 9. Hansell and his wife, general manager Amy Hansell opened Ox Lot 9 over the summer in Covington. (Photo by Kathleen Flynn, NOLA.com l The Times-Picayune)

Executive Chef/Owner-Jeffrey Hansell talks to his family who came in for a meal at his restaurant Ox Lot 9 in Covington. Hansell and his wife, general manager Amy Hansell opened Ox Lot 9 over the summer in Covington. (Photo by Kathleen Flynn, NOLA.com l The Times-Picayune)
(KATHLEEN FLYNN)

Executive Chef/Owner-Jeffrey Hansell and his wife, general manager Amy Hansell opened Ox Lot 9 over the summer in Covington. (Photo by Kathleen Flynn, NOLA.com l The Times-Picayune)

Executive Chef/Owner-Jeffrey Hansell and his wife, general manager Amy Hansell opened Ox Lot 9 over the summer in Covington. (Photo by Kathleen Flynn, NOLA.com l The Times-Picayune)

Executive Chef/Owner-Jeffrey Hansell opens the door for customers at his restaurant Ox Lot 9 in Covington. Hansell and his wife, general manager Amy Hansell opened Ox Lot 9 over the summer in Covington. (Photo by Kathleen Flynn, NOLA.com l The Times-Picayune)

Jeffrey Hansell
grew up in Waveland, Miss. He's worked in New Orleans, Birmingham, Ala., and even Colorado. His cooking draws widely from across the South. Now he has his own restaurant,
Ox Lot 9
inside Covington's renovated
Southern Hotel
. The restaurant adds another dose of urban sophistication to downtown Covington. For his confidently executed cooking and broad embrace of our region's food ways, Hansell is a Chef to Watch.

You grew up in Waveland, Miss. Did your parents cook?

Of course. Parents, grandparents. Everybody. Everything in this whole region is centered on food. You mourn with it. You celebrate with it. Its part of everyday life.

You started the culinary program at University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast at an unusual time, didnt you?

The first day of school was the day of Katrina. We got postponed three months. We ended up in an elementary school in Biloxi. We used their classrooms and we used their cafeteria kitchen. We did everything, it was just in little desks.

What was your first job after school?

Right out of culinary school I got an awesome opportunity to be on the reopening crew of Commanders Palace.

What was it like to work at Commanders Palace?

A lot of the people came out of CIA, Cordon Bleu. I had a two-year degree out of an elementary school kitchen. I was completely overwhelmed, but I do better when Im challenged. I was promoted through all the stations in six months or so.